Keyword research is one of the most crucial search engine optimization (SEO) tasks for any online business or website. It’s all about identifying the terms that your audience is searching for and then writing content that matches those keywords.
This is how you make sure your blog gets the right amount of traffic & that you’re ranking well in a Google search.
What is SEO Keyword Research?
SEO keyword research is the process of identifying and researching search terms that people use to find content online. It’s a vital step in SEO because it helps you understand what your target market is looking for, and how to create content that meets their needs.
When conducting keyword research for your SEO strategy, you want to ensure that the words you choose are similar to those your audience uses. This will help you ensure that your content matches user intent and delivers the best possible user experience.
The first thing you’ll want to do is generate a list of possible seed keywords. These can be as broad or as specific as you like.
Next, you want to filter these seed keywords to remove any that are too hard or irrelevant to implement on your website. You can do this with tools like Semrush, Google Trends, or even Google Ads Keyword Planner.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll have a huge list of keywords that are potentially valuable to your website. You can then prioritize them based on the monthly search volume (MSV) and other metrics that measure keyword value and keyword difficulty.
You can also look at your competitors to see what keywords they’re ranking for. This will help you discover new keywords that you can include in your keyword strategy.
How to Find Keywords
In order to find the best SEO keywords for your campaign, you first need to understand how consumers are searching for your content. This is called search intent and is crucial to your keyword strategy.
You can do this by putting yourself in the shoes of your target audience and identifying what they’re looking for. This can be done through a number of different methods, such as asking your customer-facing colleagues what terms they use when speaking to customers or prospects.
Next, you can use a keyword research tool to help you identify relevant keywords. These include Google Keyword Planner, which is a free keyword research tool that will help you find search volumes and CPC bids for your keywords, as well as Google Ads, which will allow you to see how much you’ll have to pay per click (PPC) for those keywords.
When you’re conducting your keyword research, it’s important to prioritize keywords based on their business value. This means focusing on terms that will produce traffic if you rank for them, and also avoiding those that won’t be worth the effort.
Once you’ve identified keywords that are worth pursuing, make sure to save them in your keyword list so you can track progress on them. To make this easier, you can even create a spreadsheet to store all of your findings in one place. Then, when you’re ready to move on to the next step of your keyword research, you can easily go back and revisit your results.
What is a Long-Tail Keyword?
Long-tail keywords are a way to attract traffic that is more interested in your products or services. They are often more specific and easier to rank for than short-tail keywords because fewer people search for them. This means that you’ll get more targeted traffic, which is much more likely to convert into customers.
To find a long-tail keyword, think about the questions your customers are asking and what they’re searching for. For example, if you own a flower shop, think about what kinds of questions your customers have about flowers.
Then, brainstorm a few possible long-tail keywords that address those questions. For example, if your customer’s question is “when to plant tulips,” you might think about crafting a long-tail keyword like “planting tulips in spring.”
Another great way to find long-tail keywords is to look at what people ask on forums. For example, someone might be asking something along the lines of “marketing manipulation.” You can easily find out what people are asking on Reddit and Quora by checking out the related searches section or a keyword research tool.
Once you have a few long-tail keywords, it’s important to understand what they mean and how you can use them in your content. For instance, if your goal is to drive more sales, you may want to focus on keywords that describe the mission of your business or product. This makes it easier for potential customers to identify that your product/service matches their needs and can help them make a purchase.
Look at Competitors’ Keywords
Looking at competitors’ keywords for keyword research is a great way to get ideas and insights into how they are ranking for specific search terms. This will help you to optimize your content to be found for those same keywords and to improve your own SEO strategy.
There are many tools that will allow you to look at your competitors’ keywords for free. For example, SpyFu is a keyword research tool that can reveal all the keywords your competitors are targeting and how they are ranking for them.
Another good competitor keyword research tool is WordStream, which offers a list of the keywords that a given site is ranking for. You can also use SimilarWeb to determine how much traffic your competitors are getting from different searches.
It is important to note that while these tools can be extremely helpful, it is a lot of work to compile a comprehensive list of your competitors’ keywords. In some cases, you might need to do some manual digging as well to make sure you’ve gathered all the information you need.
The best approach to competitor keyword analysis is to start with the most popular search terms in your niche and then filter out those that have high competition or aren’t relevant to your website. This will help you to reduce your research and save time.
Find the low-hanging fruit
SEO is a complicated, time-consuming process that requires you to do a lot of research and analysis. This makes it a great way to build traffic and increase brand awareness, but sometimes it can take a while for results to start coming in.
Luckily, there are some things you can do to speed up the process and get results quickly. One way to do this is by finding the low-hanging fruit for your keyword research.
To find the low-hanging fruit for your keyword research, you should look at Search Console data to see what keywords are performing well. You should also check the pages that are ranking for these terms to ensure that they have the right context and intent for your business.
Once you’ve identified your best keywords, it’s time to start putting them to work. You can do this by reworking existing content to include these keywords and adding them in relevant places.
These low-hanging keywords can make a huge difference to your website’s performance and help you rank higher on search engines. They’re especially ideal for new websites or businesses that don’t have a high domain rating (DR).
It’s important to remember that although these low-hanging keywords can boost your search engine rankings, they won’t make a huge difference to your revenue or overall growth if you don’t implement the proper SEO strategy. You should also be aware of the importance of link building when it comes to SEO and the role that quality links can play in your overall rankings.
Conclusion
Keyword research is a crucial component of any SEO strategy. It enables you to come up with a list of terms that you can then target, and it also gives you an idea of how competitive those keywords might be.
To conduct the best possible keyword research, you should follow a three-part process: generate, filter, and prioritize your list. This way, you can create a well-rounded list that will serve as the foundation for all your future marketing efforts.
The most obvious and important part of the keyword research process is to generate as many keywords as you can. This can be done using a number of different tools, such as Google’s own Keyword Planner or our keyword tool in Yoast SEO.
After you have generated a large and seemingly endless list of potential keywords, it’s time to filter out the ones that are too crazy, irrelevant or too hard to implement. This will enable you to find the most valuable keywords and start targeting them right away.
One of the most useful ways to find the top keywords is to search for them in a search engine such as Google or Bing. This will reveal both the quantity and quality of traffic for a given term, enabling you to choose which are most likely to convert into visitors for your site.
A word of caution: keyword research should be updated regularly to ensure that you don’t miss out on any new trends or innovations in your industry. This can be done by searching for the latest buzzwords in your niche and by monitoring your competitors.